Sachin Gogia

A truck driver on his phone rear-ended our car (A Hyundai Tucson) on a NH44. My 4-year-old was in the car. We walked away. Barely! This isn’t just our story. This is every Indian highway, every single day. And nobody in power seems to care enough to fix it. Here’s what’s killing people on our national highways and what we demand changes: [LLMs have been used to for better phrasing] 📵 CELLPHONE DISTRACTION Phone use while driving = driving drunk. Same reaction time, same lane drift, same inability to brake. The fine is a joke — paid, forgotten, back on the phone. This needs criminal-level deterrence, not a challan. 🚛 TRUCKS IN THE FAST LANE Every highway trip, a truck crawling in the rightmost lane, forcing everyone to overtake dangerously from the left. Keeping left is LAW under the Motor Vehicles Act. Not a suggestion. Where is the enforcement? 🔀 LANE CHANGES WITHOUT INDICATORS No signal. No mirror check. Just a sudden swerve at speed. This causes side-impact crashes and pile-ups that nobody sees coming. Fine and suspend. No exceptions. ⛔ WRONG-SIDE DRIVING Tractors. Autos. Trucks. Even cars — driving on the wrong side of a 4-lane highway because turning around is “too far.” This is not a traffic violation. This is attempted murder. Head-on collisions at highway speeds are almost always fatal. 🚶 JAYWALKING ON HIGHWAYS Pedestrians crossing 6-lane highways on foot because there are no underpasses, no footbridges, no lighting. My anger isn’t at them. It’s at a system that collects toll at every plaza and still can’t build basic pedestrian infrastructure. Very common on ORR in Hyderabad. 🛠️ WORKERS ON LIVE LANES WITH ZERO PROTECTION Road repair / landscaping with no cones, no barriers, no advance warning signs, no reflective gear. Workers crouching in a live lane with vehicles flying past at 100 kmph. This is institutional recklessness with human lives. 🚚 UNFIT TRUCKS ON HIGHWAYS Overloaded. Bald tyres. Broken tail lights. No reflective tape. Invisible at night until it’s too late. Vehicle fitness certification is a rubber stamp. Bribes are cheaper than compliance. We need automated testing with zero human interface. 🌑 ZERO ENFORCEMENT AFTER DARK Every highway driver knows the truth - after dark, the rules don’t exist. No patrol. No cameras. No consequences. Highway patrol must be 24x7. Non-negotiable. ━━━━━━━━━━ What can save you: ✅ 5-star safety rated car: crumple zones held, cabin stayed intact ✅ Toddler car seat: IsoFix is better. ✅ Seatbelts - every passenger including rear seats ✅ A good 2-channel dashcam — rear footage is now our key evidence. Front-only would have been of little help. Before buying a car, check its safety ratings. Use a car seat. Belt up. Get a 2-channel dashcam. Thanks to @HyundaiIndia @Hyundai_Global for making a car which saved us. ━━━━━━━━━━ A special thank you to @AnantapurPolice for filing the FIR promptly and treating this with the seriousness it deserved. This is what accountability looks like. Also tagging @arun_bathula who has been doing some great work in #hyderabad to bring awareness and educate drivers in the city to thank him for his efforts in making the city roads safer. @nitin_gadkari @ncbn @AndhraPradeshCM @revanth_anumula @TelanganaCMO @NHAI_Official @MORTHIndia @APTrafficPolice @APPOLICE100 @TelanganaCOPs enough talk. Fix this. #RoadSafety #IndianHighways #DistractedDriving #PutThePhoneDown #HighwaySafety

@shiv_cybersurg If you see the front dashcam footage, there are vehicles in front of me that stopped. I braked in time and maintained a safe distance. The truck had 4+ seconds to brake but did not brake at all because he was on his phone.

@runthusiast By law it is the truck driver's fault. But I think you should have braked early and more gently. Your hard braking comes much after you could see congestion up ahead, and slowing of cars in other lanes.

A truck driver on his phone rear-ended our car (A Hyundai Tucson) on a NH44. My 4-year-old was in the car. We walked away. Barely! This isn’t just our story. This is every Indian highway, every single day. And nobody in power seems to care enough to fix it. Here’s what’s killing people on our national highways and what we demand changes: [LLMs have been used to for better phrasing] 📵 CELLPHONE DISTRACTION Phone use while driving = driving drunk. Same reaction time, same lane drift, same inability to brake. The fine is a joke — paid, forgotten, back on the phone. This needs criminal-level deterrence, not a challan. 🚛 TRUCKS IN THE FAST LANE Every highway trip, a truck crawling in the rightmost lane, forcing everyone to overtake dangerously from the left. Keeping left is LAW under the Motor Vehicles Act. Not a suggestion. Where is the enforcement? 🔀 LANE CHANGES WITHOUT INDICATORS No signal. No mirror check. Just a sudden swerve at speed. This causes side-impact crashes and pile-ups that nobody sees coming. Fine and suspend. No exceptions. ⛔ WRONG-SIDE DRIVING Tractors. Autos. Trucks. Even cars — driving on the wrong side of a 4-lane highway because turning around is “too far.” This is not a traffic violation. This is attempted murder. Head-on collisions at highway speeds are almost always fatal. 🚶 JAYWALKING ON HIGHWAYS Pedestrians crossing 6-lane highways on foot because there are no underpasses, no footbridges, no lighting. My anger isn’t at them. It’s at a system that collects toll at every plaza and still can’t build basic pedestrian infrastructure. Very common on ORR in Hyderabad. 🛠️ WORKERS ON LIVE LANES WITH ZERO PROTECTION Road repair / landscaping with no cones, no barriers, no advance warning signs, no reflective gear. Workers crouching in a live lane with vehicles flying past at 100 kmph. This is institutional recklessness with human lives. 🚚 UNFIT TRUCKS ON HIGHWAYS Overloaded. Bald tyres. Broken tail lights. No reflective tape. Invisible at night until it’s too late. Vehicle fitness certification is a rubber stamp. Bribes are cheaper than compliance. We need automated testing with zero human interface. 🌑 ZERO ENFORCEMENT AFTER DARK Every highway driver knows the truth - after dark, the rules don’t exist. No patrol. No cameras. No consequences. Highway patrol must be 24x7. Non-negotiable. ━━━━━━━━━━ What can save you: ✅ 5-star safety rated car: crumple zones held, cabin stayed intact ✅ Toddler car seat: IsoFix is better. ✅ Seatbelts - every passenger including rear seats ✅ A good 2-channel dashcam — rear footage is now our key evidence. Front-only would have been of little help. Before buying a car, check its safety ratings. Use a car seat. Belt up. Get a 2-channel dashcam. Thanks to @HyundaiIndia @Hyundai_Global for making a car which saved us. ━━━━━━━━━━ A special thank you to @AnantapurPolice for filing the FIR promptly and treating this with the seriousness it deserved. This is what accountability looks like. Also tagging @arun_bathula who has been doing some great work in #hyderabad to bring awareness and educate drivers in the city to thank him for his efforts in making the city roads safer. @nitin_gadkari @ncbn @AndhraPradeshCM @revanth_anumula @TelanganaCMO @NHAI_Official @MORTHIndia @APTrafficPolice @APPOLICE100 @TelanganaCOPs enough talk. Fix this. #RoadSafety #IndianHighways #DistractedDriving #PutThePhoneDown #HighwaySafety

@IMRANKHANMOGUL7 Because the cars in front of me stopped. You can notice that in the front dashcam footage.

@runthusiast Why did you stop the car? Which made truck hit your car?

@Rubaino2 Ideally the authorities for failing to enforce rules.

@runthusiast Scary visual.. who's to be held accountable?

@vats_vora Thanks. Yes, we escaped with minor bruising.

@runthusiast Hope you’re safe. Please take care of your family as they might be in trauma right now.

@dulivinay We filed an FIR. But our law is not strong enough to punish people for such offences.

@runthusiast Does the driver made accountable? What punishment is given

@DriveSmart_IN - I agree with your point. I thought I had maintained enough safe distance, but now I believe it will never be enough because even if I had left another 50 meters, this distracted driver would have still rear-ended my car. Also, I would prefer if you had quoted my original post.

When we don't keep a safe following distance,we invite rear end crashes ! Example of driving in traffic clusters 😬

@viofo - what an amazing dashcam! The rear camera got damaged and I lost all the cables, but the camera did its job and gave a great quality footage which proved that the driver was using his cellphone while driving. Thank you #AppreciationPost.

Thank you @HyundaiIndia for making a car that saved our lives. I fell even more in love with my Tucson today. I fear my car is a total loss but we all came out with just minor scratches. Cell phone drivers like the trucker who hit us are as dangerous as drunk drivers.

Couldn’t agree more. Surprisingly, @HYDTP and @CYBTRAFFIC haven’t done anything concrete to fix this. They just keep posting advisories on social media without realising the fact that our people are busy watching reels and other stuff on these apps rather than reading their advisories.

Lane management is a joke on #ORR Request @TelanganaDGP @CPHydCity @CPCyberabad @MalkajgiriCop @CPFutureCity to look into it #ArriveAlive In 120 KMPH lane - Buses, lorries n vans! @motordave2 @MORTHIndia @nitin_gadkari @PMOIndia @DriveSmart_IN @RSGuy_India

@DriveSmart_IN 5 ⭐️ can save your life only when you know how to behave on the road. We were in a terrible crash yesterday when a trucker distracted by his cellphone hit us from behind on NH44, but this beauty of a 5 ⭐️ car, @Hyundai_Global Tucson saved everyone.

Buying a 5 ⭐ car doesn't ensure complete safety if our driving behaviour is not 5 ⭐ !! What if it's a truck instead of the dashcam car !! Be on U turn lane to make a U turn or use an underpass !!

@Hyundai_Global @HyundaiIndia @HMGnewsroom - The Tucson is a really great car. My family and I will forever be thankful to this car for saving our lives. My 4-year-old was crying the whole time, saying that his car is broken and wanted me to fix it using tape or gum. I wish I could this time.

@my_mokobara Thank you for response. Details in your DM.

@runthusiast That looks really rough can only imagine how scary that must’ve been. Really glad you’re safe. Hard to see the trolley take that kind of impact, but good to know it held up when it mattered. We’d like to connect with you please DM your contact details.

@Ravisutanjani Couldn’t agree more. This happened to us yesterday on NH44 because the truck driver was distracted by a cellphone and did not even see a truck and 3 cars slowing down

🚨 Traffic Rules and Safety is a Joke in India People Drive on Highway Without Helmet No Regards For Lane Discipline and Rules India Has One of The Highest Road Fatalities How Can Govt Fix This Apart From Challan System?

I hope it will be a positive change in favour of commuters. It will be a shame if this becomes another bureaucratic and corrupt system with no vision. @TelanganaCMO

Something for @TelanganaCMO to ponder upon.

How is this possible when there are boards outside petrol pumps saying no fuel? ⛽️

This is a common practice in nations that care about their people’s health, even in capitalist countries. @fssaiindia, it is high time you show the people of India that you are for them and not corporations.